We had a BOY!

So this is old news...

Pregnancy and motherhood has made me a sorry excuse for a blogger...BUT! nevertheless..

WE HAD A BOY! and he is the BEST!

Asher Gaulke weighed in at 7lb 9oz and 22 inches long!! On my favorite day of the year : March 3rd (3/3/11)...

The number 3 truly is my favorite number so this was very special to me!..I mean he had no choice..we induced him..BUT! his due date was March 1st..so he did wait patiently for Mommy's favorite day!

Now for the delivery story:

I had been having some contractions in the days prior to the 3rd...but nothing regular and painful enough to be considered lets-book-it-to-the-hospital worthy. But actually the night before I was scheduled to be induced, I was contracting pretty regular and semi painful but we waited..because we were scheduled to be induced in the morning anways..

So we did wait until our scheduled time of 5:30 am to report to the hospital and we were in our hospital room by 5:35am...they were ready for us.

I got checked in, hooked up, and poked multiple times in the arm.. :( (that was not fun and I am not a baby when it comes to blood anymore after my time drawing blood for MD Anderson.)

What stunk actually the worst was that I had to have my blood pressure taken every 5 min (standard when in labor) and it was pressing on the same arm the nurse busted my vein putting in the IV the first time. Honestly, it was more painful than the contractions sometimes!

They told me I was 4 cm and 100% effaced and pretty much in labor already!

They still decided to start pitocin on me because my contractions were not strong, just consistent. After an hour or so, I could feel the contractions getting stronger and coming about 3 min apart consistently..and I definitely had to breathe through them..but I was making it...

At about 9:30, my OB came in and broke my water ..and at about 9:35 I could feel the contractions WAY more and they started to be way more painful. I lasted about half an hour of that and then asked the nurse for the epidural...I felt like such a wuss!

...of course...the anestheiologist was in another room with another patient..

..I literally was crying and telling Hunter I couldn't make it...the contractions were coming about a min apart at this point and they HURTTTTTTTTTTTTT. People say you won't remember the pain...um..I remember the pain like it was yesterday. It felt like someone was ramming a truck into my abdomen and back over and over and the same glorious truck was running over me and staying there for a minute at a time, reversing and coming back for more.

After 45 min, the anesthesiologist came in and I have never been so glad to see a man with a needle in my life.

They kicked Hunter out (apparently husbands have died watching epidurals being administered) and got down to business. I bear hugged my nurse Wai Wai (...pronounced Why Why) and thought I was going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life because I couldn't stay still during the contractions...I mean HELLO! how do they expect you to do that? ..but before I knew it, the pain was getting more dull..but still hurt. I told my Dr. that I could still feel the contractions pretty strongly ( I may have stretched the truth...but I didn't want to feel a thing!) and he gave me some more meds in my epidural line. After that, my legs were dead weight and I was in hog heaven!

I remember people coming in and out of our room and me just being so jovial! I was just happy to not be in pain anymore. I probably seemed a little drunk..but honestly I was just so relieved!

Then, at about 12:15pm, I felt the feeling that I needed to poo. Now I couldn't "feel" anything..but I could feel pressure...and there was definitely pressure in that area..

My nurse was on lunch, so I paged the other nurse and she came in and checked me...not really seeming to be in a hurry..and SURE ENOUGH.. I was a 10! That baby could have popped out of me and no one would have known!

My nurse came in...we practiced pushed..and she told her superior to get Dr. Z over here ASAP..this baby was coming!

I pushed 3 times when the Dr. got there and BAM! Asher arrived at 12:45! :) I remember his little pitiful cry...it was so adorable..I still think his cries are cute sometimes..and his little frowns..OMG that little boy has got me wrapped around his finger.

I will admit, I remember seeing him on the table as they were checking him out and it did not click to me that he was mine. There was just a baby on the other side of the room now. But yet, I teared up at the same time..and was very emotional..it was extremely strange. I also remember my love for Hunter exponentially increasing. I was so smitten with Hunter for the next month..I felt like all the love I was supposed to be having for the baby..was being directed towards Hunter..it was strange!

So all in all, my labor was 6 hours..and it flew by. I just remember being really hungry and the blood pressure cuff hurting..and the 45 min of pure torture of pitocin-induced-no-aniotic-fluid-to-soften-the contractions-labor...and then a baby boy!

It was worth it...but next time, if I am induced, I will have an anesthesiologist waiting in my room when my Dr. wants to break my water :)

First Trimester...check

So I promised that I would update on my pregnancy...even the weird stuff....and there were some weird things that happened to me..

...apparently because of the hormonal tsunami that was occuring in my body.

So here we go:

• I started to shed worse than a golden retriever...it was insane. I would literally pull handfuls of hair from my head at any point in time throughout the day. Eventually it became like a really disturbing party trick...


• My sense of smell increased 1000%. I began smelling things that no human should be allowed to smell. This is actually one of the HUGE red flags that made me even take a pregnancy test to begin with. I am not a good smeller normally at all...and to be honest I don't know if that was really all that bad ;)


• My gums became SOO sensitive. My toothbrush became like barbed wire to my poor gums. My whole mouth would just throb for hours after I brushed my teeth.


• Brushing my teeth made me throw up...honestly, because of this and the aformentioned incident, I contemplated not brushing my teeth for a while. My doctor said I had to ...but it was horrible. Even to this day I throw up every single morning when I brush my teeth. EVERY MORNING. It has become part of my morning routine. I think that it will just be how it is for the next 6.5 months...but really I hope not.


• I had INTENSE food aversions to anything considered meat: poultry, beef, pork...anything. If you even said the words: steak, hamburger, chicken breast...I would gag...and possibly throw up on the spot...I am not kidding..it happened. THE WORST! was stupid food commercials...grossssss. Like especially Burger King..or Dairy Queen..I would have to mute and look away if any of those commercials came on and displayed their gross meaty meat sandwiches..Luckily, this symptom is getting a little better.


• If I did not get 8 hours of sleep or more...I would be sick all day. It did not fail. Thank goodness I had several weeks this summer to sleep as much as I wanted. On the rare occasion that I would have to wake up early or not get as much sleep at night.. I would feel awful and throw up a lot.


• I threw up a lot...sorry if that is gross. But I did....my sweet Hunter would hear me and just rub my back. I told him that was gross to be in the bathroom with me...but he insisted..saying "if you have to be in here, so do I".. LOVE that. On one occasion, after we went and spent a weekend at a bed and breakfast (I did not sleep well at all), we were driving away and I told him that I was NOT going to make it to a gas station and the he needed to pull over. He did...and that poor poor side of the road didn't know what hit it. As I was completely emptying my tummy, I heard Hunter chuckle beside me. ..When I was finished I managed to ask "what the heck could be so funny right now"...and he then proceeded to tell me that my "throw up sound was cute"...Now that ya'll is love.


• I became an idiot. Sometime people would talk to me...and I had no idea what they were saying. It's like my mind was not allowing their words to stick. I would forget what I was saying in the middle of my sentence. I would get severe ADD...oh yes, and Hunter's favorite...I would make up words. I would take a word and just add or subtract some letters...and make a new word. For instance..instead of "pigeon hole"...I would say "pin hole"...Instead of "surging"..I would say "sorging"...and Hunter never let me slip one past him ;)

But with all of those things that made me miserable...or made my husband laugh hysterically...we are truly blessed so far with a healthy little bean :)

I call it a bean because of our last ultra sound experience...the baby moved the entire time! Just back and forth and moved its head up and down in a nodding motion. We got to see all of the little body parts: brain, spine, heart, arms and little hands, legs...and little face!

We are hoping that they will be just as mobile at my next appt so that we can see the gender :) I cannot wait for that!

I will try to keep you update on more of the happier things from now on...but if you are experiencing any of the above symptoms...you're probably pregnant ;)

love love.

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!"

Sometimes, making people happy is pretty simple:



Thank you Cinnamon Toast Crunch for making this all possible... also thank you to the person who invented mini-desert cups and/or cream dispensers. Thank you Ashleigh for hours of laughter!

Love, Hunter

Camp Gaulke

Camp Gaulke is now in preparation for March 2011! Pre-registration has already begun and we got so excited about our first little camper that we took a picture!

On the right side you will see the head :)

We are SO excited about what God has done ..in HIS timing ;)

I will update more on my pregnancy stories soon...they are full of hormones and throwing up and made up words...enough of a cliff hanger for ya?

Love Love.

Grandpa Bob

After a really hard battle with lung cancer, one of the most treasured men in my life passed away today.

The story behind this picture reminds me of things I loved about him. My grandpa couldn't wait to see me get married. He loves Hunter and has told me over and over that he admires our relationship.

But first thing he said when I asked him to escort my mom down the aisle.. was a sweet and genuine question..." Do I have to wear a tie?"

"No grandpa, you wear whatever you want. :) " No tie it is. (What a handsome man!)

I loved this man like a father. When we were at the hospital around 2 am this morning, my amazing Uncle Kevin was intentional about discussing the things we adore about Grandpa Bob:

His laugh. As my cousin Bailey reminded us, his whole upper body shook when he laughed. It came from deep inside him. And he didn't laugh at just anything. He was very authentic when he laughed at something and it made you feel special when it was with you.

His hugs. Oh my gosh how that man could hug me. Honestly, sometimes I would have to hold my breath because my lungs were too squished. He showed his love through those hugs. And let me tell you, my grandpa loved the heck out of me.

His protectiveness. I went to Africa in the summer of '06 for 30 days. My grandpa worried constantly about me every single day. At the time there was a civil war going on around the area that I stayed and I know he watched every news clip there was and called my mom over and over to make sure I was alright. He would fight a bear...lion... or hormonal teenage boy for me or any of his grandchildren any day of the week.

His snarkyness. My grandpa was snarky until the very end. His entire left lung had collapsed and would make a little bit of a wheezing noise as he breathed. The doctors offered to give him medicine that would reduce the sound and classic Grandpa Bob responded: "Why? Does the sound bother you?"

He died about 24 hours later.

Grandpa Bob was extremely loved and respected. When we found out that he had cancer, the whole family put their game faces on. God knew the exact time to take him, and He did.

We love you, Grandpa, and we will miss you every day.

Summer in Corpus Christi

Well hello there blog. I never forgot you, but there were some things that were way more important than you that I had to get done first.

Now I have NOTHING to do...but this. :)

Hunter and I are in Corpus Christi for the summer to complete an internship for Hunter's school. The good news is we are staying with his most WONDERFUL Aunt Patty who gives us amazing company and a roof over our head...and most nights when we are lucky...she feeds us!

Also, Hunter is loving his internship! His patients and staff are loving him too!I can't tell you how good he is at being a PT...and he will graduate May 2011! 10 months!

The bad news is ...I am kinda homesick for Houston and our apartment. I am contemplating making a trip back that way soon just to have a change in scenery. Let me tell you... all the movie watching and book reading I have been doing in the same spot has been exhausting :)

Other than being done with my first year of teaching and being in Corpus...nothing too new to report.

Oh yeah, like the new blog-do?

Post? OK!

I am 100% not sure if anyone really cares...but I haven't blogged in FOREVER.

I haven't even told you where I work...what I am doing!

Well... I work at Katy High School and I teach IPC and Chemistry...which is basically 9-12 grade.

And it is amazing. I love my kids...there are some that are nuts and need....well I really can't publicly state what they need...but anyways...

Yay for blogs! I miss it! But I do not have time...I don't even have time to catch my breath 4 out of the 5 days of the week.

But know that I love it...and I love them...and I am SUPPOSED to be here with them...loving them and forgiving them...and being tough on them...and being empathetic to them...and most of all teaching them.

Miss Miss...Love Love!